Tau and Eldar Sources

By Sarone, in Deathwatch

I'm thinking about a Tau/Eldar campaign, and will most likely running it. Which books should I buy that have information about the two species?

@ Sarone ...

Specifically within Deathwatch books? There is some for Tau, but very little for Eldar.

For what there is, within the Deathwatch series...

A. DW-01: Deathwatch Core Rulebook ~ Added here for completion and basic obviousness. Covers basic Tau information and core units.

B. DW-02: Game Master's Kit ~ The included adventure: Shadow of Madness , features the Kill Team competing against a Tau cadre to recover an ancient but activated weapon on the contested Canis Salient planet Barban. Shadow of Madness is a Rank 1 adventure, so a good starter to use.

C. DW-04: Rites of Battle ~ Covers Tau vehicles.

D. DW-05: Mark of the Xenos ~ Covers the stats for some Tau, but more Kroot entries than Tau, and one entry on Vespids.

E. DW-06: The Achilus Assault ~ Covers the Canis Salient, with some information about the Vel'kahn Sept. One Eldar Pathfinder is talked about: Syndilian Shandyr the Traveller.

F. DW-08: The Jericho Reach ~ This one is probably the most informative, covering Tau campaign themes, planets, and Adventure Seeds.

G. DW-10: Rising Tempest (short campaign) ~ This adventure prominently features the Tau, albeit as pawns of another race (the Ghanathar, the former & fallen rulers of the Jericho Reach thousands of years before the Imperium existed). Rising Tempest is recommended Rank 3 minimum, so easily integrated into your campaign.

H. DW-13: The Outer Reach ~ This book delves into the Eldar presence within the Jericho Reach; specifically the shadowy cabal of Eldar "elders" known as The Conclave of Tears, and their manipulative efforts towards thwarting their ancient enemies of the Necrons by deliberately creating as much bloodshed and anarchy throughout the Jericho Reach.

The Conclave's purpose being to indirectly awaken the Necrons prematurely rather than according to the Necrons' own timetable (see: the Dark Pattern ), so they can be dealt with on the Conclave's terms, and letting the many factions involved with the war for the Jericho Reach deal with the Necrons rather than the Eldar getting their hands dirty.

~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~

If you want further Eldar materiel within the FFG books, I would say check the Rogue Trader series. Obviously, such other campaign settings are not (directly) tied to the Eldar in Deathwatch.

Hope this helps.

Edited by pendrake71

@pendrake71

To be honest, I would like to have access to as much information as possible. Would the Only War and Dark Heresy have information about the Tau and Eldar?

In addition, could players with Dark Heresy/Only War characters handle Tau, Eldar, and other Xenos threats?

Technically, all the WH40K FFG series have at least nominal info about the overall WH40K-'verse, as they each ultimately have to be independent games. So "technically" (note: "quotations"), yes.

Pragmatically, on the other hand, the other settings do not really delve into the other races outside their themed settings.

For example(s)...

- A. Dark Heresy does not deal with the Tau Empire, as the Calixis Sector is literally on the opposite side of the galaxy from where the Tau Empire is. As for the Eldar, they are only loosely covered, as most Eldar generally out-class Acolytes' power-levels. The exception to this being for DH: Ascension's expanded classes of Inquisitors and Throne Agents.

- B. Rogue Trader primarily features Kroot mercenaries within the Koronus Expanse, both as NPCs and playable characters, but otherwise no Tau. The Eldar are probably the most prominent here among the other FFG WH40K series, between Craftworld Kaelor, the Twilight Swords corsairs, the Crow Spirits outcasts, and the Dark Eldar.

- C. Black Crusade, the Eldar are barely mentioned, besides as unseen manipulators trying to counter the progress of Chaos; at best/worst, the Dark Eldar are mentioned as competitors against Chaos. Likewise, as the campaign setting also exists in the Calixis Sector (in the Screaming Vortex and the Hazeroth Abyss), there are no Tau either.

- D. Only War, short-lived as the series was, loosely dealt with the Dark Eldar as enemies. Perhaps they might have expanded to include the other Eldar, but we will never know. Likewise, as the Only War story-setting is also based in the Calixis Sector as well, so no Tau as well.

In-general, Eldar are behind-the-curtain manipulators rather than direct-confrontation characters, in-keeping with their theme of being too few in numbers for open conflict. Likewise, the Tau are simply not covered due to the primary locations of the non-Deathwatch series being in either the Calixis Sector or the Koronus Expanse.

Edited by pendrake71
On 12/2/2016 at 2:15 PM, pendrake71 said:

Technically, all the WH40K FFG series have at least nominal info about the overall WH40K-'verse, as they each ultimately have to be independent games. So "technically" (note: "quotations"), yes.

Pragmatically, on the other hand, the other settings do not really delve into the other races outside their themed settings.

For example(s)...

- A. Dark Heresy does not deal with the Tau Empire, as the Calixis Sector is literally on the opposite side of the galaxy from where the Tau Empire is. As for the Eldar, they are only loosely covered, as most Eldar generally out-class Acolytes' power-levels. The exception to this being for DH: Ascension's expanded classes of Inquisitors and Throne Agents.

- B. Rogue Trader primarily features Kroot mercenaries within the Koronus Expanse, both as NPCs and playable characters, but otherwise no Tau. The Eldar are probably the most prominent here among the other FFG WH40K series, between Craftworld Kaelor, the Twilight Swords corsairs, the Crow Spirits outcasts, and the Dark Eldar.

- C. Black Crusade, the Eldar are barely mentioned, besides as unseen manipulators trying to counter the progress of Chaos; at best/worst, the Dark Eldar are mentioned as competitors against Chaos. Likewise, as the campaign setting also exists in the Calixis Sector (in the Screaming Vortex and the Hazeroth Abyss), there are no Tau either.

- D. Only War, short-lived as the series was, loosely dealt with the Dark Eldar as enemies. Perhaps they might have expanded to include the other Eldar, but we will never know. Likewise, as the Only War story-setting is also based in the Calixis Sector as well, so no Tau as well.

In-general, Eldar are behind-the-curtain manipulators rather than direct-confrontation characters, in-keeping with their theme of being too few in numbers for open conflict. Likewise, the Tau are simply not covered due to the primary locations of the non-Deathwatch series being in either the Calixis Sector or the Koronus Expanse.

Thank you for the information. I just found out the forums were moved to the archive, which helps me save some time.

14 hours ago, Sarone said:

Thank you for the information. I just found out the forums were moved to the archive, which helps me save some time.

Just to let you know; there is a lot of Tau stuff for Rogue Trader - the Twilight Crusade campaign and Tau Character Guide .pdf contains pretty much anything you might need to field Tau fire caste PCs and their kit (up to and including riptide suits).

8 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Just to let you know; there is a lot of Tau stuff for Rogue Trader - the Twilight Crusade campaign and Tau Character Guide .pdf contains pretty much anything you might need to field Tau fire caste PCs and their kit (up to and including riptide suits).

I'll have to check it out, but I'm interested more in the various Tau "NPCs" as well as information for the various aliens in the Empire as well as the Farsight Enclave.

As noted, Deathwatch is your best source for NPCs. Most battlesuit marks (aside from the riptide) are in there, including at least one experimental suit which doesn't exist in the tabletop game (the 'boarding suit' for void actions in Ark of Lost Souls)